SculptSite.com: Mark Wallinger Sculpture BD the Architects' Website By Will Hurst Plans for a giant horse intended to become a new landmark in Kent have been given planning permission. EBBSFLEET VALLEY, KENT THAMESIDE, UK - Artist Mark Wallinger's White Horse is 33 times life-size and, overlooking the A2 in the Ebbsfleet Valley, will be seen by up to 60 million people a year. The steel-frame scheme, selected following a competition, was unanimously approved yesterday by Gravesham Borough Council. The backers of the project, Eurostar, Land Securities and London & Continental Railways, have so far injected around £1 million of seed funding to get the project off the ground. Wallinger said: "This is a tremendously exciting project. I was honoured that my White Horse won the competition and I am delighted that Gravesham Borough Council has granted it planning permission. The team and I are very much looking forward to creating a new landmark for the area." Project Director Mark Davy said the sculpture would "act as an important catalyst for the cultural identity of the area".

"Ebbsfleet Valley will be a major new mixed-use development, which is set to become a hub for an emerging new economy in the South-east," he added. Other parties involved in the project include engineer Alliance Design Group. A really, really large horse! This project brings to mind the large equine sculpture "Gran Cavallo" that is 24 ft high located at the wonderful Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The "Gran Cavallo" sculpture may seem small when compared to the White Horse Sculpture that is said will be 50m-high (164ft) - making it about seven times larger if my calculations are correct. In the case of this sculpture, one might want to utilize the popular phrase - size does matter! More Sculpture News .... BBC - A giant white horse for Ebbsfleet A giant white horse for Ebbsfleet Mark Wallinger's white horse will soon grace the skyline in north Kent The proposed giant white horse, designed by Turner Prize winner Mark Wallinger, will stand on a hill near Ebbsfleet International station.

The £2 million horse will measure up to 164ft in height, and will be the biggest public work of art in the UK. It will be more than twice the size of Antony Gormley's Angel Of The North in Gateshead, and roughly the same height as Nelson's Column. The sculpture will be visible from the A2 and from Eurostar trains. The Ebbsfleet project is the UK's biggest and most significant public art commission since Gormley's most famous work was unveiled in 1998, so it's no surprise it's been dubbed Angel Of The South ever since the idea was announced in 2007, although Gormley was never one of the shortlisted artists. The statue was commissioned to help symbolise regeneration around Ebbsfleet. As well as the station, around 10,000 new homes, offices and shops are planned for the area over the next 20 years. Kent County Council launched a campaign to persuade Wallinger to submit a rearing Invicta horse instead, to reflect the county's symbol, even though the council confirmed that they have no financial involvement with the project.

The horse was given planning permission by Gravesham Borough Council on 14 April 2010. About the artist Mark Wallinger won the Turner prize in 2007 for State Britain, a recreation of the banners and paraphernalia of Brian Haw's Parliament Square protest against UK military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is no stranger to Kent, and created a permanent piece of work on The Leas at Folkestone as part of the Triennial sculpture expo in 2008. What do you think of the statue? Is it a fitting symbol for the county? The Ebbsfleet horse is essentially a child's model on a giant scale and therefore without artistic merit, more likely to attract an abundance of birds mess than admiring crowds. Clearly the proposed Invicta horse is merely another naff attempt in a competing statement, please remind me of what exactly? Personally if its built in Dover's town i can live with it but why further vandalise our beautiful country side, as has already happended in Folkestone with the mertiless logo concreted into what was a beautiful hillside.

Certainly similar schemes would not be considered in the Yorkshire Moors for example and yet with our gentile panoramas where the beauty is fragile and in the close detail we feel compelled to ruin what nature has uniquely provided to our area, with Kent fast becoming the patio rather than remaining the garden of England. Phil, Folkestone We the kent gypsys love it we have horses in north kent and the wite horse show importance and bravery and prosperty we love it Mark Butler, Gravesend This horse is such a missed opportunity. I have seen the wonderful inverted parabola at St Louis (USA) and also the elegant group of arches in the Victoria Gardens, Chatham. I think a parabola group could have made a wonderful "gateway" to England. Also they could have had wonderful internal lighting which could have been powered by constructing it with solar panels - even if there were no internal lift system like at St Louis. It would have been cheaper (I suspect) futuristic, dramatic and beautiful. The horse is just an outsize horse.

Marylin , Gillingham, Kent I am going to have to drive past this monstrosity every day, there were many more pleasing ideas put forward but as usual the council has not taken the residents views into consideration. This ugly beast will become a source of ridicule and focus for local vandals before the project is even finished ! J Hunt, Swanscombe, Kent My views are quite simple: we in Kent DONT WANT THIS! If you must have something use the invicta horse but this looks like it comes from a toy farmyeard. It will do nothing to improve the area - just make it more tacky than it already is. AW, Kent, England With all the chalk that was dug out for the rail link couldn't we have the hill built up and a proper white horse (Invicta)carving instead? Think of the existing white horses etc already around the country that look so attractive. Grahame Denney, Dartford Kent As a native of this county, I have to say that the creation of the white horse will be a source of great embarrassment. There is only one white horse of Kent: Invicta, Rampant.

If it technically impossible to create the horse in this way, then don't do it at all! Tom O'Connor, Tunbridge Wells Totally not surprised this eyesore will be allowed to blight Gravesend/NW Kents landscape. Let us all who'll have to see this eyesore hope and pray that as much effort goes into its construction as its design/forethought. With any luck it will fall down or get damaged beyond repair when we next get some strong winds!!! David Beattie, Gravesend, Kent We find it rather disappointing that such an opportunity to promote Kent and Art and Design has been severely let down by a bunch of people who thought that Kent would love nothing more than horse to look at every morning on their way to work! - its ridiculous, we are both local designers who studied at local Art and Design University the UCA in Rochester, an opportunity like this would have been an amazing experience for anyone studying art disciplines but it wasn't even offered to us! Surely if the monument is to represent Kent then a fine example would be to use sources that KENT has to offer.

There are many,many people out there with undiscovered talent,that wouldn't just dream up the idea of presenting a Horse and having the cheek to say it was 'designed' by an 'artist' - If i was this guy, i would be embarrassed,however the sad fact is,that the more you speak of the designer,and the more controversy they cause,the more they get the chance to 'shine' again! :( Samuel Flaherty and Sefika Sakalli, Meopham Another waste of Money, There are many other ways the sponsors could contribute to North Kent. Alan Webster, Herne Bay Revelations 6:8 Alison Wilson, Sandwich I remember being taken by my father in the 1950's to a site near by to see the stone celebrating the Kentish tribes meeting the Romans and offering peace to the Romans hence "Invicta" unconquered. This placing of a whisky advert horse in this position I find insulting to the people of Kent. Yet again showing officials planning something when they have no local knowledge and don't take the time to find out the locals (people born and bread in Kent's) views.

If this horse were to be produced it would be more fitting to place it at Newmarket or any other horse centre where the style of horse would be more suitable. Michael Roche, Maidstone Could somebody please explain to us mere mortals what they see in this pile of junk? Almost without exception the posts to this site are against it.I would ask the question who gave it approval in the first place it was certainly not the locals. If somebody has a large sum of money to spare I am sure that the people of NW Kent could suggest a better use. Roy Farrow, Rochester,Kent I have yet to meet anyone who thinks this oversized monstrosity would in any way be a good idea. It is bland,too big,ugly,overpriced and does in no way represent Kent. The Angel of the North did at least show imagination. This horse looks like it was based on a free gift from a cereal box. Please let us have a symbol with taste Michael Giles, Gravesend This must not be allowed to happen, if there is to be a statue of a horse it must be the " Invicta Horse", & not the" Barbie " option.

Keith Meakins, Dartford , If the horse is set in place as suggested what an embarrassment to the people of Kent it would be! The White Horse Rampant, the symbol of Kent, is the only realistic and acceptable option. John, Sittingbourne, Kent This is an incredibly lazy and poor example of design by an artist, and planning on the part of local councils. In contrast to the wilder and more open countryside in the North of England, Kent is already becoming utterly overcrowded with so called 'innovative' building and planning projects which plan to 'regenerate' areas of Kent, but which seem to pay no heed to the needs or opinions of local people.How about using the `£2 million pounds, and consequent ridiculous amounts of money that will have to be spent on cleaning mould and bird poo off the thing to do something really useful for the people of Kent? Imagine that money going to fund local projects or charities.... Or to set up a beautiful open space for people to enjoy together.... Or to fund work projects for young, unemployed people....There are so many more exiting possibilities. Heather Grabham, Faversham, Kent I cannot believe they are going ahead with this.

It looks terrible and I know of no one in the area that likes it. The money would be better spent landscaping the surrounding area, which is currently wasteland and very ugly. Lis Bryan, Greenhithe, Kent Whatever is built I will see across the fields from my home, I would prefer to see something different like the Invicta horse, as I can see the normal horses any time I like by just looking across the road in Southfleet. Build something to give the people of Kent proud of their county. Peter Wanless, Southfleet You say "The sculpture will be visible from the A2 and from Eurostar trains". The part of the A2 where you can view 'Champion the Wonder Horse' is already the A2 accident hotspot and the view from a train going at 140mph would be but a blur on the landscape. Has anybody asked if a white horse would offend anybody! Garry Hodges, Gravesend UK Why a white horse? It has about as much relevance as a carrot (that's more agricultural too!) Now if it was Invicta that would be different and we'd all welcome it!

Fran Gallwey, Sevenoaks, Kent If we have to have a horse, let's have the one we should have "The Invicta Horse". I think a landmark should have the WOW factor, which is sadly missing in the proposed art work. Carl Smith, Gravesend Totally agree with Barbie look to the "horse". Why can't we have the Invicta horse? The symbol of Kent for many years. Why pay to reinvent the wheel or horse in this case? Malc, Stone Kent is known as the Garden of England, the Invicta horse is a well known symbol. The horse pictured will be an eyesore and says nothing about THE GARDEN OF ENGLAND. The thought of viewing this proposed eyesore almost daily I think I need blinkers. Ms Lee Forder, Gravesend It looks like a giant 'Airfix' kit. Depressingly stereotypical banal 'art' world nonsense, imposed on the many by the remote and arrogant few. Dave Hendley, Whitstable Why do the powers to be never listen to public opinion? Invicta horse YES Dobbin NO. Michael Terry, Gravesend This will make us the laughing stock of the UK.

The horse is a wonderful animal and has always been associated with Kent but in a beautiful vibrant way on hind legs and full of life. Please re-think this design and opt for a horse with some life to it not this dreadful static depiction. M Woollard, Longfield Kent If Kent has to have a structure, then it should represent what the county has to offer. This is the garden of England. There are more fitting things to build than this monstrosity. Em, Birchington Kent Please, please, please DO NOT grant permission for this monstrosity. I live very close to this site and it would be a tragedy if this horse was built. It's already been dubbed "Dobbin of the Downs" - it's lifeless, it's banal rubbish and totally out of keeping. Once again, PLEASE DO NOT GRANT PERMISSION. Teresa Jenns, England Will I and the other residents of Swanscombe and Northfleet be receiving a reduction in our council tax - given that we'll have a glorious view of a giant horse's backside? Nova, Swanscombe, Kent, UK I think it great it will but a smile on many peoples faces in these miserable times and a great land mark.

What about all the pylons making the countryside looking a mess. Maria Cummins, Cuxton I hope the planners have the sense not to grant permission for this ridiculous monstrosity. Let's not give visitors a reason to laugh at us before they've even arrived. Kate B, Tonbridge, Kent I work at an Age Concern Day Centre in Swanscombe which is very close to the proposed site of the horse. At present it is unlikely that the proposed development of all these homes etc will go ahead for a good few years. If the horse is installed now it will sit rather miserably amongst a large area of what looks like a wasteland. This area is not lit at night and I just imagine anyone driving along the surrounding roads, might wonder what they ate for brekfast thinking it is a hallucination! Sue Wood, Dartford Very passive looking horse. Definitely don't like the halter. The horse should give a sense of freedom and movement. Agree with others that it should be similar to the invicta horse, the symbol of Kent. Lydia, Tonbridge, Kent If we have to have a horse, why not the Kent Invicta white horse.

It is far more fitting to represent Kent and also would look far more attractive. Personally, I think the one that has been chosen is 'pretty naff'. Let's have something more in keeping with the Garden of England. Linda Golding, Ashford (Kent) As someone who has lived here all my life, I will have to look at this monstrosity everyday when I go to work. The Invicta Horse would have been acceptable, as it is a symbol of Kent. This one has no meaning whatsoever. Dee Richards, Swanscombe,Kent.England I second 'Emma' in her sardonic comment that it serves "...just to show what an agricultural country we are". The proposed monument is indeed, as she says, 'fantastic' - which my thesaurus defines as 'absurd', 'bizarre' and 'grotesque'. Michael Knight, as from Maidstone What an absolute waste of money. Why do we need such a monstrosity on the hillside. Whose idea was it to choose the horse, Kent has an emblem of the Invicta horse so why not use that?

Better still they should have chosen a completely different emblem like the 'E' that is on the roundabout off the A2260 junction. Michelle Humble, Gravesend Last year already I did vent my anger about this poor effort to display INVICTA - the SENSE of Invicta - with this giant, lifeless, dull horse. I know, I'm from Germany; however, I intend to move to Kent in the near future and as a future Kent citizen I'm not proud of the dicision of my county-council-to-be. Heike, Germany I'm all for large monuments, but this is just a massive unassuming horse standing in a field casting a big shadow over North Kent. Why does one need an artist for this? How about something more striking? The White Horse of Invicta on its hind legs would be a far better choice! James, Derby (Formerly Canterbury) Grand idea! If you look at other such landmarks, you -know- there's going to be an expansion of tourism jobs in the area. I do think they should make every effort to build the horse with local labor and materials.

Rick H, It is simply a gigantic replica of a horse, It doesnt really have anything of a unique style. i do feel however that it will be a fantastic piece of work and if his small scale model is anything to go by a brilliant piece of engineering. K. Clarke I personaly think that the horse was, and is a fantastic idea. I think it will be the new Effel Tower, just to show what an agricultural country we are! Emma I think the white horse is an insult to the people of Kent!It is ugly, grossly oversize, over priced, and if it's to be made of cement, presumably they will be rounding up flocks of seagulls to keep flying over it so it continues to stay white!!Seriously, who selected it?If we are to have a white horse, then let us have the proper invicta horse, rampant over the shield of Kent janet mckechnie What a golden opportunity to promote Kent and the South East missed here. This 'work' looks as though it has just been removed from a 'Barbie goes Horse Riding' plastic kit.

Instead of the proud prancing Invicta Stallion demonstrating the vigorous and undefeated nature of our County we have been fobbed off with this utter banal rubbish - a symbol of the watered down country we have become.Surely there must be a Health and Safety rule against it. John Hennessy BBC NEWS | UK | England | Kent | Final sculpture designs revealed Final sculpture designs revealed Mark Wallinger is proposing a 33-times life-size horse A sculpture of a giant horse, a tower of stacked cubes and a steel "nest" are the final three designs that could grace a Kent hilltop. The three proposals for a ï¿½2m landmark sculpture to mark the new Ebbsfleet International station were selected from a shortlist of five. The designs from Mark Wallinger, Richard Deacon and Daniel Buren will now be "taken forward". A decision on the winning proposals is expected to take place after January. The Ebbsfleet Landmark Project commission has been dubbed the "angel of the south", in reference to Anthony Gormley's sculpture which overlooks the A1 motorway in Gateshead.

This commission will not just be here for years but for generations to come Stephen Jordan Mark Wallinger has proposed a white horse, 33 times life-size, which would look out over the Ebbsfleet Valley. Richard Deacon's sculpture would see a "nest" of steel latticework outlining 26 interconnecting polyhedrons. And French artist Daniel Buren has designed a "signal" tower of stacked cubes with a single laser beam of light passing through it. Victoria Pomery, director of Turner Contemporary in Margate and chairman of the project's selection panel, said: "The panel was very excited by all the submissions and has decided to take three forward for further development before making a final decision. "We have asked Mark, Daniel and Richard to refine their proposals and to explore the engineering and cost feasibility in more detail. "Our aim is to meet again in January to review their work in the light of this information." The Ebbsfleet landmark is intended to be an iconic symbol to represent the regeneration of north-west Kent, and the growth of London eastwards. The chosen sculpture will be erected in Springhead Park, in the south-east corner of Ebbsfleet Valley, which was occupied by the Romans.

'Outstanding proposals' Stephen Jordan, chairman of the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project, added: "With such an outstanding range of proposals, it's right that we now look carefully at the practical delivery of each and explore further funding options. "After all, this commission will not just be here for years but for generations to come. "With over 40,000 people commenting on the proposals at the Bluewater exhibition, this has not only been a monumental consultation exercise but one that has proved extremely useful and constructive." The sculpture has been commissioned by Eurostar, London & Continental Railways and Land Securities, the developers of Ebbsfleet Valley. Britain’s housing crisis: are garden cities the answer? They’re billed as an idyllic alternative to generic commuter towns. But the first of a new generation of garden cities, in Ebbsfleet, Kent, has run into controversy. Will the end result be bog-standard suburban housing blighting the green belt?<p>Beyond the shops – a Co-op, a cafe, a tattoo studio called Demon Inkorporation – are narrow terraced streets where doors open on to the pavement.

A newer red-brick estate has been erected on an old slurry pit, and in the distance are wind turbines, pylons, the roar of the A2 and the surreal sight of container ships the size of tower blocks slipping down the Thames.</p><p>Welcome to Britain’s newest garden city. Ebbsfleet, the name of the high-speed Eurostar railway station squeezed on to waste ground between Dartford and Gravesend, is the first of the government’s <a href="">new generation of garden cities</a>: low-density communities with generous green spaces and good local facilities. Garden cities are an idea whose time has come (again), enjoying the support of George Osborne, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg. They are seen as a way to persuade not-in-my-backyarders to tolerate urgently needed new housing estates. Are garden cities the solution to Britain’s housing crisis?

Or are they a sham – the same-old suburbs smothering precious green belt?</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Planning policy 'Angel of the south', with wings clipped, lands in London amid financial storm Mark Wallinger's giant horse sculpture intended for Ebbsfleet is unveiled as monument in miniature outside British Council<p>It was meant to be the 50-metre-tall "angel of the south": a stupendous white horse towering over redeveloped land in Kent. But Mark Wallinger's wildly ambitious sculpture has been delayed repeatedly because of a lack of money. And now the artist has unveiled a more modest version, which will stand in central London for at least two years.</p><p>Wallinger's new white horse, which this time is merely horse-sized, was installed on the Mall outside the headquarters of the organisation that commissioned it, the <a href="" title="">British Council</a>.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Mark Wallinger The fate of Wallinger's horse shows why public art cannot be good art Mark Wallinger's Ebbsfleet Landmark commission has been reined in.

That's because modern British public art only values the mediocre<p>The trouble with public art is that it is a load of ugly, pompous, pretentious and narcissistic rubbish dumped on a snoozing public by arrogant bureaucrats and sponsors ... Sorry, leapt to the point a bit fast there, let's rewind.</p><p>The trouble with public art is that it requires a set of skills in an artist that are precisely the opposite of the qualities that attend true talent. Real artists only care about their work. They enjoy having wild ideas, creating unexpected images, testing taste and goading imagination. Real art is unpredictable, and a bit mad. It does not fit into readymade boxes – the entire point of it is to leap beyond expectations, to think the unthought. The function of the artist in western history is to create the new. From <a href="" title="Michelangelo">Michelangelo</a> to <a href="" title="Picasso">Picasso</a>, artists have shown people new possibilities.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Mark Wallinger Leonardo da Vinci's unmade Horse – the first conceptual artwork?

Da Vinci's towering bronze equestrian statue epitomises the artist's uniqueness – even though hard times meant it was never made<p>It is a bad time to be making a giant horse. But are there ever any good times? Artist <a href="" title="Mark Wallinger and his funders face a struggle to pay">Mark Wallinger and his funders face a struggle to pay</a> for the colossal statue of a white horse that he has been <a href="" title="">commissioned to create as a public artwork at Ebbsfleet</a>. The idea was hugely popular when he won a competition for the job, and yet in these times ... well, it's a slog to get the cash. But as I say – has there ever been an opportune moment to make a giant horse?</p><p>"I know what the times are like ..." wrote Leonardo da Vinci to his employer <a href="" title="Ludovico Sforza">Ludovico Sforza</a>, ruler of Milan, in the 1490s. He was wanly conceding that money for the Horse might not be forthcoming.

The Horse – Da Vinci's horse – was a towering equestrian monument that he planned to cast in bronze as a memorial to Ludovico's father, Francesco Sforza. It was one of the projects he proposed to take on when he first <a href="" title="asked Ludovico for work">asked Ludovico for work</a> in the early 1480s. It became perhaps the most famous of all his activities in Milan, alongside his other epic work in the city, <a href="" title="The Last Supper">The Last Supper</a>. But when he finally abandoned the defeated Sforza and fled Milan at the end of the 15th century he left behind only a grandiose clay model of the horse. It is said that French archers used it for target practice.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Leonardo da Vinci Jilly Cooper describes her delight at the thought of Mark Wallinger's 50m-high horse Jilly Cooper is thrilled by the thought of Mark Wallinger's 50m-high horse<p>I adore horses. They are such brave animals.

Kings and emperors have always carved out their empires on horseback because horses are so heroic. In the first world war, eight million of them died fighting for their country. White ones have always been symbolic. Poseidon's horse Pegasus was white and he was a symbol of poetry and aspiration. It feels as though we are honouring all kinds of things with this [sculpture of a white horse by artist Mark Wallinger] - poetry and war, love and romance, courage and loyalty.</p><p>It could have been a dog, too, I suppose - we are a nation of dog lovers after all, but a dog would be miserable being left in a field all day and night. It would look out of place. The horse is perfectly in keeping with our green and pleasant lands.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Mark Wallinger Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:00:24 GMT Photograph: Mark Wallinger/PA An artist's impression of how Mark Wallinger's The Horse will appear near Ebbsfleet in Kent.

Photograph: Mark Wallinger/PA Photograph: Mark Wallinger/PA An artist's impression of how Mark Wallinger's The Horse will appear near Ebbsfleet in Kent. Photograph: Mark Wallinger/PA Maev Kennedy 2009-02-11T10:00:24Z The horse whisperer's verdict of Wallinger's sculpture: 'This man is a genius - there's no question about it' The horse whisperer speaks<p>Monty Roberts, the American horse trainer and author, best known as the "original horse whisperer", has been around the animals all of his 73 years but has never seen one 50 metres tall. A computerised impression of Mark Wallinger's giant sculpture drew a gasp. "I'm absolutely gobsmacked," he said. </p><p>The former stunt double, who, after watching wild mustangs in Nevada as a boy, devised ways of communicating with horses that did not involve forcibly "breaking them in", is not just wowed by the scale of the proposed sculpture. "This man is a genius, there's no question about it. There's an incredible sense of balance and symmetry to the horse.

I don't know if he even knows what he's done in terms of the skeletal balance and symmetry of the horse - he may well do. But often times sculptors ... simply have a mind's eye that recreates what they see as perfection. [Wallinger] has captured reality to the extreme. Often times it doesn't have to a person who really understands horses at all but they have the artistry to imprint in their minds what they see as excellence, and then to do it." </p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Mark Wallinger Odds-on favourite romps home to win Angel of the South landmark contest • Sculpture is brainchild of Turner prize winner<br />• 50-metre design is dubbed the Angel of the South<p>A giant white horse will rise on a wind-scoured hillock in Kent, gazing with an expression of noble patience towards the Thames estuary, over a bleak landscape of motorways and rail lines, flooded gravel pits, chimneys and pylons, and even a few living horses muddy in their waterlogged fields.

Probably.</p><p>The Turner prize winning artist Mark Wallinger, odds-on favourite from the moment his design for a 50 metre (164ft) white horse was unveiled, was yesterday proclaimed winner of the competition to create a landmark sculpture for Ebbsfleet taller than the Angel of the North - and so inevitably dubbed the Angel of the South.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Mark Wallinger Mark Wallinger's giant white horse for Ebbsfleet - a white elephant in disguise? Mark Wallinger's 33-times life-size white horse has been selected as the Ebbsfleet Landmark in Kent. But is now the time to be building extravagant public sculpture?<p>It's a great week for Mark Wallinger.

Not only does his fascinating and clever-sounding exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London open next week (it's called the Russian Linesman, it features a magnificent disappearing Tardis, and I wrote about it <a href="">here</a>), but this morning it was announced that his <a href="">proposal</a> for the <a href="">Ebbsfleet Landmark</a>, a major public sculpture for Kent overlooking the A2 and Ebbsfleet International train station, has been selected as the winning design from a final shortlist of submissions.</p><p>His proposal is that a giant, lifelike white horse – 50 metres high, twice as tall as the Angel of the North – should bestride Ebbsfleet valley, at a cost of £2m.

I rather like the idea for its sheer brilliant effrontery, but it does faintly run the risk of simply looking rather naff (one critic of the proposal is Adrian Searle, an admirer of Wallinger's work in the main, <a href="">who has called it "silly"</a>.)</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Mark Wallinger Jonathan Jones: Wallinger's Ebbsfleet horse is a great piece of public art Mark Wallinger's winning commission for the Ebbsfleet Landmark is undoubtedly populist, but it's still art<p><a href="" title="">Mark Wallinger's giant statue of a white horse</a> has rightly and inevitably been chosen to become the most spectacular open air work of contemporary art in southern England. It was the popular choice for the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project from the moment the shortlist for this £2m public art commission was announced last spring, capturing imaginations much more than its rivals.

Any other choice would have seemed perverse - after all, public art is the people's art, and the people definitely see more in this horse than in <a href="" title="">Rachel Whiteread's trashpile with a cast of a house on top of it</a>. So do I.</p><p>On the other hand, <a href="" title="">since praising Wallinger's piece</a> in a Guardian article after the initial shortlisting, quite a few art lovers have expressed their reserve about it. The most common objection is that it lacks "texture" and mystery, in other words that it is not abstract or poetic enough. One person who disagreed with my enthusiasm pointed out that it's not as good as a work by Richard Serra. Well ... no one can accuse Serra of popular image-making. A public work by him outside Liverpool Street Station goes woefully unappreciated. There is an art to making accessible images, and this art is not worthless.

I revere Serra's works in the Bilbao Guggenheim, but I have to honestly confess that I find the flowery dog by Jeff Koons outside that museum just as memorable.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Mark Wallinger Giant horse, steel nest and stacked cubes make Ebbsfleet shortlist <p>Three proposals for the Ebbsfleet Landmark, a £2m public art commission in Kent, have been selected for further development, it was announced yesterday. </p><p>Designs by two former Turner prizewinners, Richard Deacon and Mark Wallinger, and French abstractionist Daniel Buren, have been chosen from the <a href="">shortlist of five</a> unveiled earlier this year.

Proposals by Rachel Whiteread, who wanted to create what she described as a "fairytale mountain" featuring a cast of the house where she grew up, and Christopher Le Brun's giant concrete wing and disc, have been rejected.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Art Art in public spaces should be decided by the people Communication between commissioners and the public will make for better art, and the Ebbsfleet project will benefit from it<p><a href="">Art in public spaces</a> really gets the juices flowing: informed <a href="">critical</a> juices, deeply felt uncritical ones, preciously held sheer prejudice. What matters is that the presence of <a href="">a work of art in a public space</a> - "our" space, "free" space perhaps - invites a feeling of ownership, of involvement of a very direct kind.</p><p>Despite the huge numbers who visit galleries and museums, most people don't go. If they do, the convention of the art gallery is that the work is entitled to be there and your right to question it is correspondingly limited.

But <a href="">in the street where you live, the supermarket where you shop, the square where you sit</a>, you have a right to state an opinion.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Art John Tusa 2008-05-10T23:11:07Z Jonathan Jones: Five proposals unveiled for the 'Angel of the South' sculpture, but one contender stands out This week five proposals were unveiled for the giant 'Angel of the South' sculpture. But one contender stands head and shoulders above the rest, writes a leading art critic<p>The big green circle is an eye, you suddenly realise as you balance among the gorse on a hilltop high above Yorkshire. This close, the shape cut into the hillside is almost unreadable, just a vast tract of white stone until you pick out that eye, a circle of turf in the chalky space, and then recognise two ears, a long nose ...

Once you have identified its face the giant horse takes shape in your mind as if superimposed on the landscape, as if you were floating in the sky over the fields, villages and church spires below.</p><p>In 1857 a village schoolteacher from the hamlet of Kilburn on the edge of the North York Moors had the idea of carving this colossal white horse. He was inspired by the white horses of southern England, which are cut out of the turf into chalk hills, but the rock here is limestone, so the teacher and his pupils had to give their horse a white chalk covering. Today only a few fragments of brilliant chalk remain among the loose white scree of the horse's surface. And yet, when I'm looking into that green eye, it's as if I can see into a tunnel down the millennia.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Ebbsfleet Landmark Rachel Whiteread on her Ebbsfleet Landmark proposal Rachel Whiteread grew up near the site for the planned 'Angel of the South'. She explains how its industrial expanses have inspired her life's work<p>I have always found this part of the country a really interesting, ugly-beautiful landscape.

Places like the Dagenham Ford Works I remember clearly from driving though the area with my father as a child. To me, the Ebbsfleet valley is the closest thing we have to America in this country, in terms of industrial landscape - this long flat expanse with buildings that merge into the distance. It's a place I can really relate to.</p><p>I'm interested in looking at how places such as Bluewater shopping centre, which is like a spaceship that has landed in this area, relate to the landscape. You've got white craggy chalk faces, which aren't dissimilar to the Seven Sisters in Sussex, or the White Cliffs of Dover. You've also got the movement of vast quantities of material for the construction of new spaces and dwellings, as well as the old cement works.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Art Your take on the Ebbsfleet Landmark The proposals for the Ebbsfleet Landmark sculpture have been revealed to the public today. What do you think of them?<p><br>High art ...

Christopher Le Brun's disc and wing design for the Ebbsfield Landmark</p><p>The south's - all right, north Kent's - ambition to get an Angel of the North of its very own came a step closer today, when maquettes of five proposals for the Ebbsfleet Landmark (I know, boring title) were <a href="">unveiled to the press</a>. You can see our <a href="">gallery of the shortlisted designs here</a>.</p> <a href="">Continue reading...</a> Art BBC - Kent - Entertainment - What do you think of the white horse? You are in: Kent > Entertainment > Visual Arts > What do you think of the white horse? What do you think of the white horse? The winning design for the much-talked-about Ebbsfleet Landmark sculpture is Mark Wallinger's white horse. Do you think it's the right decision? A giant white horse, built by Turner Prize winner Mark Wallinger, will stand on a hill near Ebbsfleet International station.

Meeting Mark Wallinger Help playing audio/video The £2m horse will measure up to 164ft in height, and will be the biggest public work of art in the UK, more than twice the size of Antony Gormley's Angel Of The North in Gateshead, and roughly the same height as Nelson's Column. The Ebbsfleet project is the UK's biggest and most significant public art commission since Gormley's most famous work was unveiled in 1998, so it's no surprise it's been dubbed Angel Of The South ever since the idea was announced in 2007, although Gormley was never one of the shortlisted artists. Richard Deacon's abstract polyhedrons didn't win The statue was commissioned to help symbolise regeneration around Ebbsfleet. As well as the station, around 10,000 new homes, offices and shops are planned for the area over the next 20 years. The sculpture will be visible from the A2 and from Eurostar trains travelling to and from London.

Mark Wallinger won the Turner prize in 2007 for State Britain, a recreation of the banners and paraphernalia of Brian Haw's Parliament Square protest against UK military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is no stranger to Kent, and created a permanent piece of work on The Leas at Folkestone as part of last year's Triennial sculpture expo. The judges preferred the horse to the cube tower Five designs were shortlisted in the initial stages of the competition, including one by fellow Turner Prize winner Rachel Whiteread. After a public consultation at Bluewater, the list was reduced to three in September last year, and Wallinger's horse beat an abstract pile of polyhedrons by Richard Deacon and a tower of stacked cubes with a laser beam shining through it by French artist Daniel Buren. Despite organisers' insistence that all five designs were treated on equal merit, it was Wallinger's horse that attracted the public imagination, and the most publicity. Kent County Council even launched a campaign to persuade Wallinger to submit a rearing Invicta horse instead, to reflect the county's symbol. But the council confirmed that they have no financial involvement with the project. Building work is not expected to start on the sculpture for at least a year.

So far half the £2 million needed has been raised by the Ebbsfleet Landmark Project commission, and it hopes to raise the rest from private donations. So the day the giant horse makes its debut on the Kent landscape may be a while yet. last updated: 17/02/2009 at 17:03 created: 09/02/2009

Question: Ebbsfleet in Kent will be the site of a giant sculpture by Mark Wallinger, what form will the sculpture take?
Answer: (Giant) Horse